Memorial
by happywanderer2
Summary: I have not seen any mention what happened to them after the battle between Chiyo and Sasori, so my muse filled in some details. Kankuro has to make decisions about his future as a puppeteer. Probably should be considered post-series and possibly AU.


I have not seen any mention what happened to them after the battle between Chiyo and Sasori, so my muse filled in some details. Kankuro has to make some decisions about his future as a puppeteer. Probably should be considered post-series and possibly AU. Rated for language and some sexual content, but there is nothing explicit. Miri is mine; all others are Masashi Kishimoto's.

* * *

Memorial

Kankuro ran one hand over the smooth stone. He stepped away and looked behind him.

The woman moved closer. "This is it?"

"Yeah. Ebizo-sensei had it sealed up afterwards."

"No one has been back here since then?"

"As far as I can tell, no."

"So they are all still there?"

Kankuro nodded. "Just as they fell."

"Are you sure about this? Do you really need to…?"

"Damn right I do."

"This is a tomb Kankuro, and the site of an evil deed. Something like that is best left alone. There is a good reason we set the dead away from us."

Kankuro snorted. "Your people might do that, but we don't. I can't believe that you're afraid of ghosts. I can't believe you believe in them."

"I am respectful of them. There's a difference."

"Riiiight. C'mon, Miri let's get this over with. Do your thing."

"This seems a little extreme just to get in. Wouldn't it be better to…?"

"This is the fastest way and I don't want to involve anyone else. I thought about using a bomb, but that's not precise enough, it might bring down the whole cave."

"That might not be a bad thing."

"I'm doing this Miri. One little punch, I'll bet that's all it would take. Put those fists of yours to work."

"So I am just here for my fists, eh? You just love me for my body."

Dark, purple and black ringed eyes glinted. "Whenever possible. And you?"

She let her eyes roam over the tall puppeteer. "I am rather fond of certain parts."

"I'll let you play with them later, if you do this now." Kankuro pointed at the sword strapped to her back. "You didn't need to bring that with you. It's safe around here."

"I came with a shinobi to the site of a battle with the Akatsuki. There's nothing safe about any of that."

"It's safe, Miri. The Akatsuki are gone, that thing they built is gone."

"I know that. I'm just…taking precautions."

Her gaze had drifted off somewhere and there was a subtle shift in her body language. She had just lied to him.

No, he thought, Miri never lies. She just omitted something.

"C'mon Miri, stop stalling and making me wait."

Her eyes refocused and she gave him a sharp look. "I understand that Sasori did not like to wait."

"He did not."

"Why do you need more of his puppets, Kankuro? Especially these ones."

"I might not take them. Ebizo-sensei ordered me to come here to see them and then decide. I've had his other puppets for years, so I would know best."

"Karasu, Kuroari, and Shanshouo are different! They were not _people_ once! Let's just go."

"No! I have to do this. There are things I could learn about making puppets from what's in there. I need to take that next step, Miri. You can understand that, can't you?"

"I know, constant study, constant change, avoid obsolescence at all cost. I hear it from Ebizo-sensei all the time. You two are weird."

Kankuro folded his arms, set his jaw into a stubborn line, and glared at her. The stare intimidated most people, it could make students faint and council members shiver. Miri returned it with her own mild gaze, but Kankuro knew that it was deceptive; Miri was just as stubborn as he.

"You might want to step back."

"Do you want to look for a weak spot first?"

"Done. I have calculated the spot and the required force."

"Be sure there is enough space to walk in and out with puppets and maybe to let in air."

"And light. Especially light."

"Afraid of ghosts _and_ the dark?" Kankuro could not resist teasing her.

Miri rolled her eyes and gestured for him to move. She put her hand on the smooth stone and flicked away a few dust particles. The gesture seemed a little strange to Kankuro, considering what she was about to do. She took a deep breath, gathering and focusing energy. One fist cocked back and then descended. The wall exploded into dust and rock. A second blow followed the first.

Kankuro raised a hand to ward off any flying rubble, but there was none. She had turned the wall into a pile of dust with two well aimed punches.

She gestured for him to go in first. "After you, puppet master-sama."

"Give it a moment to let the dust settle."

"Who is afraid of the dark now?"

Kankuro showed her his middle finger and stepped into the cave. Miri followed, making a tsking sound at his back. Kankuro flashed her a brief grin and then turned his mind to the task at hand. They went a short distance and stopped to survey the cave.

Miri had read the report on the battle, but after seeing the debris spread out over the floor of the cave, she thought that Sakura had been conservative in her description of the fight among herself, Chiyo, Sasori, and all those puppets.

"There's what's left of Hiruko," Kankuro pointed, "and the Third Kazekage."

He scanned the wreckage, looking for what Ebizo had ordered him to find. After a few moments he saw it. He moved the two puppets flanking the third aside, laying them down with care. He squatted down in front of what remained of Sasori.

Sasori of the Red Sands. The hair on the back of Kankuro's neck prickled. Here was what remained of the last person to beat him.

Well, not quite, Kankuro thought, Gaara has seriously kicked my ass a couple of times, but no one has put me as close to death as Sasori did.

He put his hands on the chest compartment of the puppet, pushed a panel on the left breast, and it slid out of the way. He rested one hand on the opening and concentrated, sending healing and energizing chakra to what was left of Sasori's heart. Healing arts were not his forte; it had taken a long time to learn how to do this and an even longer time to convince Sakura to show him. The Leaf kunoichi was as opposed to this as Miri, but had finally agreed, although she had threatened to kill him if he got hurt (Kankuro could not figure out why women always made threats like that, his sister did it all the time).

Nothing happened for some time and Kankuro was about to give up when the heart pulsed once. One single beat and then Kankuro found that he was not just sending chakra; it was being pulled from him. The puppet's head twitched and its eyes half-opened and swiveled towards Kankuro.

"You. The loud one. You are alive."

Kankuro found that he was now fighting to control the chakra stream. He wanted Sasori strong enough to communicate, but not strong enough to control any of the puppets scattered around the cave.

"Yeah, you screwed that up too."

Sasori made a low rumbling noise; he was laughing. "Did I? How do you know I did not intend this all along? You are much stronger, much more interesting than you were then. Do you still have those mistakes of mine?"

"Karasu, Kuroari, and Shanshouo? Yeah, more or less. Made some improvements over the years."

"How intriguing. Did the old woman save you?"

"No. You stumped her. She was pretty pissed off about it too."

"No? Then who?" Sasori made another rumbling noise, this one sounded pensive. "There was only one other who was skilled enough and she would never help the Sand."

"It wasn't Tsunade-sama and that's not true about her helping out. You're wrong again. I thought you were supposed to be some sort of genius."

"Don't be impertinent, boy."

The puppet's limbs twitched and the head moved from side to side. Kankuro clamped down hard on the flow of chakra, exerting his control over Sasori's body.

"Nice try asshole. But this time you're the one who's going to lie there nice and quiet."

"So, you remember our last little conversation? It made me very late, but it is best to be thorough about that sort of thing."

Kankuro felt a surge of anger at the memory, but pushed it away, it would not help his concentration. He remembered very well, at first he had thought that it was some poison induced hallucination, but Sasori had left bruises as evidence. Kankuro had left it out of his report and no one had ever asked, although Sakura might have suspected something. Not long after Sasori's poison had knocked him out, Kankuro had woken up to find himself draped over Shanshouo's broad back with Sasori's hands running over his body.

"It occurs to me, boy," the puppeteer had said, "that I might add you to my collection. It has been a few years and I could do with something new."

"Bastard," Kankuro had grated. "Just fuck off."

He tried to move, even a finger would be enough to get a puppet limb activated, but the poison was all through his system. He could barely tell that he was being touched. Sasori lifted one of his hands, manipulating the joints and testing the muscle between his thumb and forefinger.

"Good hands."

One of Sasori's hands crossed Kankuro's line of sight. He noticed that it was actually a jointed limb, almost indistinguishable from a human arm, but still made of wood. At the same time he noticed something else; Sasori smelled of oil, wood, and varnish. That in itself was not unusual, Kankuro suspected that he smelled like his workshop too, but there was nothing underneath it, no sweat or any kind of body odour. Even if Sasori had not broken a sweat while fighting him, he should still have some sort of smell.

Kankuro gasped. "What the hell?! You're…"

"You are just noticing now? Perhaps you are not as talented as I thought, but yes, it is a puppet. My Hiruko. Not my most impressive piece, but I did not need to waste that on you."

Kankuro growled and tried to move, but Sasori just laughed and continued what he was doing. Kankuro was aware that his clothes were being shifted around so Sasori could reach bare skin and then the puppet's hands crawled everywhere. Sasori grunted and muttered to himself while he inspected Kankuro. Kankuro grit his teeth, putting all his will power into moving away from those hands. It felt like forever, but was really no more than a few minutes when Sasori stopped. He readjusted Kankuro's clothes and backed away from the young puppeteer.

"Tempting, but no. It's a bit of a shame, maybe if you were to live a few more years you might be interesting, but now you are not worth the time."

Sasori nudged him and Kankuro slid back to the ground. He ran his fingers over Kankuro's cheek, smudging his face paint.

"Well, if nothing else I got to finally erase this stain from the planet."

He turned and left for good.

"So." Sasori's voice brought Kankuro back to the present. "Why should I answer your questions? What will I get in return?"

Kankuro shrugged. "Depends on your answers. You're not in any real position to bargain though. I could just leave."

"I know why you are here. She died without telling anyone, didn't she? How did it happen?"

"What do I get in exchange for telling you?"

"I might not kill you."

Kankuro laughed. "Like that's going to happen. Okay, I'll give you this one for free because you will love the answer: she gave her life to Gaara."

"Hmm, how pathetic. She probably thought that it was a way to atone for her past sins."

"Maybe. I don't really care what she thought, but I do care about what she did."

"And you would like to know how to do it too? Why?"

Kankuro did not say anything. In truth, he was not sure. It was one of the things Ebizo had told him to do on this mission. Kankuro was supposed to decide which puppets should be brought back and added to the village's collection and he was supposed to face Sasori to see if he could get the key to the life transference jutsu from him. The whole thing was a test; Ebizo was always testing him one way or another. Kankuro did not like it, but had come to accept it. And, he had to admit, he was a stronger and better person because of it. However, he could not really come up with a good answer for Sasori's question. He just did not know if he wanted this power, and he was not sure if it was something he was even strong enough to do.

Kankuro shrugged. "It's an enormously strong technique. Who knows what I might use it for?"

There was a pause and then Sasori made a derisive noise. "You want it just because it can be done. Knowledge for knowledge's sake. I know who that sounds like. So, the old man finally took a student. You are not what I would have imagined as his choice."

"There's definitely been days when he's regretted it."

"Give me the use of my arms and I'll tell you."

"No way I do something that stupid."

"Then I will not tell you."

"Fine with me. I'll just leave then and let you fade away. You and all memory of you. The puppet guild is rebuilding, people have forgotten about you and what you did."

"Are you trying to annoy me with that? As long as my creations exist, people will remember me. You keep my memory alive every time you use my puppets."

"They're not yours anymore. They haven't been for a long time."

"You can put any spin on it you like, but the fact remains: as long as they exist, so do I." Sasori made an impatient noise. "Your teacher has had a bad influence on you. He could talk like this for hours, debating about minutiae that had no practical application."

"Nah, I've always liked to argue. Ask anyone."

"Pah, you are impertinent and weak. That is a bad combination. I'll make this offer once; if you want to know the technique I'll show it to you by transferring myself into you. I don't mind sharing a body; it's not that hard. Ask her."

The puppet's eyes flicked in Miri's direction and Kankuro looked up at her too. She looked calm, but Kankuro knew her well enough to read the subtle signs, she was thinking about doing major damage to something.

He only looked away for a moment, but it was enough time for Sasori to launch his assault. A pulse of chakra was pulled out of Kankuro's body so fast it hurt. One of Sasori's arms rose up and clamped Kankuro's hand tight against his chest to make sure he did not pull away. His other hand went for Kankuro's throat. Kankuro got his free hand up in time to block the strike and then grabbed the puppet limb to prevent any hidden weapons from firing from it. He focused on gaining control of the chakra stream. He could feel Sasori trying something else, probably the early stages of the transference justu. It was an unpleasant sensation.

Miri stepped forward.

"Back the fuck off!" Kankuro snarled without looking around. "This is my fight!"

Miri did not come any closer, but her hand drifted towards her sword. She noted the position of all the puppets in the cave. If any of them so much as twitched, she would have her sword through Sasori's heart and possibly Kankuro's neck in a heart beat. If Kankuro failed at his task, then she would have hers. Ebizo had ordered her to make sure that Sasori did not leave the cave, either as a puppet or in Kankuro's body.

"That is a rather cruel assignment, Ebizo-sensei," she had said to him.

"It would be crueler to let Sasori succeed." He pointed a bony finger at her. "Do not let him out of that cave, no matter what it takes."

"You think he will be stronger than your student? You certainly can't think he would agree to let Sasori go free? Your lack of confidence is a little disturbing. Kankuro can handle him."

"Your loyalty is admirable, but you must agree that it is prudent to consider every contingency."

"Ah, prudent."

As always, Ebizo was right, but she still felt guilty about even considering the possibility of his failure. She shifted closer to the two of them, being careful not to make a sound.

"You are too weak to stop me, just like before," Sasori said. "Just give in and I will show you how to be strong, perfect, and eternal. A living piece of art."

"Living?!" Kankuro made a derisive sound between clenched teeth. "You call what you are living?"

As he uttered those words, he realized that he had the answer to the question. Chiyo had created and used that powerful jutsu and then spent years regretting it, isolated from everyone else; breathing but not really living. Sasori had used his version and had done no better. Sasori was right, flesh was weak and short-lived, but by giving it up he had lost his ability to feel and connect with other people. Kankuro did not like a lot of people, civilian or shinobi; the genin and chunin he was forced to teach annoyed him and most of the Sand council members were incompetent morons. And he would never give up any of the whole irritating bunch, not for any amount of power.

"Your puppets made you strong, but they are tools, just like a kunai or shuriken, and you've ended up just like them, scattered around this cave, broken and forgotten. People will always honour Chiyo-baa-sama for what she did, you're barely a memory. So no, no fucking way do I let you do that to me."

"You talk as though you had a choice. You are too weak, you were then and you are now."

Kankuro snorted and tried to pull his hand away from Sasori's chest, but the puppet master's grip was too strong.

Fine, Kankuro thought, if my chakra is what he wants, then that is what he will get.

He wiggled his hand as much as he could, getting his finger tips positioned just right. It would be tricky to do with only one hand, but he was not going to let Sasori beat him this time.

"You idiot. You've forgotten the advantage of this weak short-lived body of mine; I can change, adapt, learn. You're just some dusty antique."

He stopped fighting Sasori over control of the chakra flow and applied the technique. There was a loud hiss and crackle as the nature of the chakra Sasori was taking from him transformed. The healing flow changed, becoming charged and electric. What could fix a damaged heart's rhythm could also kill a beating heart. It made Kankuro's arm ache and buzz, but he did not let go.

Sasori's eyes widened when Sasori realized what was happening, but he could not pull away. He had clamped Kankuro's talented and deadly fingers to his own chest. Sasori's eyes flicked around the cave and he tried to take control of a puppet, any puppet, but he could not. All he could do was stare up at the snarling, painted features of the Sand shinobi. His grip on Kankuro's throat slipped and Kankuro ripped his hand away, right off his body, and hurled it across the cave. He placed his hand on top of the one already on Sasori's chest; the wooden body began to twitch and jerk.

Sasori could not believe it, the young puppeteer was killing him. "But I could show you…"

"Nah, show's over asshole." Kankuro lifted one hand, fingers flexing to make the final signs.

When Sasori stopped moving, Kankuro backed away, alert for any twitch; he was sure that the puppet master was finally dead, but was not taking any chances. He watched the smoking, charred body for some time before he relaxed.

He looked at Miri. Her nose was twitching in response to the smell. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." He gestured around the cave. "Let's get to work, I want to get all of these out of here before night fall. Then I want to seal this place back up for good."

-0000-

Kankuro watched the flames flick around puppet limbs, heads, and torsos. He was so deep in thought that he did not hear Miri until she was right beside him.

He twitched. "Shit! Don't do that."

"It wasn't on purpose, you weren't paying attention."

"That's what you always say." He gestured in the direction of the cave. "Is it done?"

"It is." She looked at the fire and then over at a second pile of puppets. "Are we taking all of those back? They will not all fit in your workshop at our place."

"Some will. The rest will go to Ebizo and eventually to other puppeteers. Then everyone can have of piece of the Ten."

"That's an excellent idea, Kankuro."

"Don't sound so surprised. I do have them from time to time."

"If you say so. We should get going, it will take a while to carry all those things back."

"Not _things_, puppets. We're not going yet, we have to wait until the fire burns down and cools. I want to take the ashes back with us."

"Why?"

"Those were the remains of the puppets he made from people…Hiruko, the Third, and all those others. Their families should have something to let them know that they are finally at rest. I was thinking we might set up a memorial or something, maybe near Chiyo-baa-sama's grave."

"Another good idea." She cocked her head at him. "Are you sure that you _are_ Kankuro? Maybe Sasori…?"

"Fuck off."

She grinned. "That's more like it." She looked back towards the remains of the cave. "But you are leaving him here?"

Kankuro looked too. "Yeah. He can stay here, in that body for eternity, just like he wanted." He pointed in the direction of the cave. "You got a little carried away there. You brought half the mountain down on him."

"I was being thorough."

Kankuro snorted, went over to the puppets they were taking back, and began to sort through the pile.

"That jutsu would have made you very powerful."

"Yeah. Maybe. But it was not worth the price. And I don't want to live forever. Who wants an eternity of training bratty genin and council meetings? When this poor, pitiful body of mine gives out that will be it."

Miri chuckled. "I suppose an eternity of bureaucrats might be hell. But there is nothing pitiful about your body Kankuro."

Kankuro flashed her a grin and went back to his rummaging. He pulled a long jointed piece of metal out of the pile. He flexed the joints, admiring their quality and marveling at the skill that had gone into making them. He ran his fingers over the sharp tip at one end.

"He did make some excellent puppets though," he murmured.

"Isn't that Hiruko's tail? I thought you were burning all of _those_ puppets."

"What's left of his original body is on the fire. Sasori added this; it's all metal. It might be useful for something."

Miri's nose wrinkled in distaste. "That almost killed you! And now you're going to use it? I have said it before and I will say it again, you puppeteers are a weird bunch."

"Umm, maybe," he murmured, his mind turning over possibilities for this piece of puppet. He flexed the tail again. "Always wondered what Kuroari would look like with a tail." A grin spread across his face as he pictured it. "We'd definitely put on one hell of a show."


End file.
